From the category archives:

Budgeting

Ready, set, save for Black Friday shopping.

August 31, 2010

John Hussman (The Money Demand Blog, July 30, 2010) on Recession Warning – “Based on evidence that has always and only been observed during or immediately prior to US recessions, the US economy appears headed into a second leg of an unusually challenging downturn”.
Recession or not Americans feel the tradition of holiday gift giving is [...]

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Here’s your financial tool kit

August 4, 2010

For many of us, it’s not January but September that qualifies as the start of the new year in Canada. Come the end of the Labour Day weekend, there’s a feeling the whole world is getting back into gear. Schoolrooms, boardrooms and businesses come alive; social and cultural events start ramping up; hockey season gets [...]

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Handling credit wisely. It’s in the cards.

July 22, 2010

Fellow Canadians, we are in debt big time according to a recent report by the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada.
Despite all the cautionary tales we might have learned from simply watching the evening news during the past couple of years, household debt in Canada reached $1.41 trillion at the end of 2009. That translates to [...]

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Heat wave induced savings!

July 13, 2010

Surprisingly, there was one benefit to this H-E-double hockey stick-ISH humidity heat wave that hit Toronto this past week. Being a winter person, I only ventured outside to get to work and to get home. No need for morning coffee, too scared to go outside and buy lunch, no evening adventures either. Evenings were instead [...]

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Coupon collecting hobby resurrected

June 30, 2010

I am one of those who clip and collect store coupons thinking, ‘I could save money’. At times, I would spend a half-hour cutting out coupons and piling them up in my ‘coupon box’. But I never used them- my collection became a hobby.
One day as I was cutting out some, a light goes off [...]

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Love has no price tag.

June 15, 2010

Appropriately, I’ve been thinking about love in relation to money.
Recently, I did some window shopping. My journey took me to Toronto’s Yonge Street just north of Davenport where I happened upon a little store called Belle Epoque. Here I discovered a wonderful hodge-podge of modern furnishings, appliances, art and knick-knacks that lightened up my day. [...]

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How about, “My big fat, cheap wedding.”

May 28, 2010

As I write these words, a glorious golden sun is setting over Ontario’s horizon. The brilliant orb is slipping into a pale orange mist beneath big, baby blue skies that are fading into the beautiful navy of night. A slight breeze brings whispers from nearby trees and a flower garden where a few birds chatter [...]

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Money-savvy kids. Money-savvy parents.

April 14, 2010

Rules of the allowance game.
I’ve got three simple words of wisdom for gainfully employed parents who include kids’ allowances on their list of money problems.
Break the cycle.
Most of the time, the financial problems adults face directly relate to the financial illiteracy of their own parents. Like father, like son. Like mother, like daughter. Bad habits [...]

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My Dinner with Bubbles

March 18, 2010

Or how to live large on a small budget.
Permit me to introduce you to my extraordinary friend Bubbles, whose nickname derives from the fact that she gets a charge out of popping the plastic bubbles you find in bubble wrap. Or so the joke goes.
Bubbles, a grown woman, is a bit eccentric. She used to [...]

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Books about Doing the Books

February 2, 2010

Words to the wise on personal money management.
To everyone out there who is anxious about money and credit, let me say this: invest in a little knowledge and you will be surprised by how quickly you can leave your worries behind.
A first big step in this process is to do a little reading – or [...]

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